MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Senator Amy Klobuchar met with Minnesotans on Sunday who will benefit from a billed passed in Washington earlier this month.

The bill helps get speech generating devices, or SGDs, in the hands of people who need them. SGDs assist people with conditions like ALS and Parkinson’s, to help them communicate.

Sen. Klobuchar met with doctors and patients at the University of Minnesota ALS Center.

“Speech generating devices aren’t a luxury for people affected with diseases like ALS and Parkinson’s. They are a life line. And the tools are crucial for helping people to lead independent lives,” Klobuchar said.

Senator Klobuchar first co-sponsored this bill back in 2015. It was set to expire in October, but was renewed when the federal budget bill passed.

My mother was diagnosed with ALS in May 2014. Her doctor put her on riluzole, letting her know there was no cure but the medication might provide her a few more months of delayed symptoms. ALS progresses at different rates and affects different body parts first. My mother, being 80 at the time, fell into a category of what they call “fast progression” (older female). Her arms weakened first, then her hands, her mouth, and throat, and finally her lungs. Throughout her two-and-a-half-year ordeal, she was able to walk with assistance. All the while she continued to take the riluzole. If it bought my mother any time, we will never know. Her neurologist told us that if she couldn’t afford it, there was no real need to take it. She lost touch with reality. Suspecting it was the medication I took her off the riluzole (with the doctor’s knowledge) and started her on the ALS natural herbal formula we ordered from GREEN HOUSE HERBAL CLINIC, We spoke to few people who used the treatment here in Canada and they all gave a positive response, her symptoms totally declined over a 7 weeks use of the Green House ALS disease natural herbal formula. She is now almost 83 and doing very well, the disease is totally reversed!